Finally Getting Through?

Admittedly, I was concerned that China, Japan, Gambia, India, and Granada would successfully con and bribe sharks and rays off the CITES Appendix II list they had just been added to a few days earlier, today, the decisions stood, those countries failed, and sharks won.  When I say sharks won, I actually mean the world won.  The entire planer cannot survive without the ocean and the ocean cannot survive without sharks.

The new classification is intended to ensure exports of these commercially fished animals are sustainable and legal.  Great news!  However, defining what "sustainable" means is another battle...considering the devastating techniques used in modern fishing and the collapse of 90% of the ocean's predatory fishes in the last 50 years, I believe there is room for argument on whether the defined limits are in fact sustainable.  And of course there is the issue of enforcement of these limits.

But enough pessimism from me.  Hurray for today's victory.  It is a step forward and a sign that the 

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